Phillip Fulmer's brain must be, too.

With one fell swoop of mindless strategy at the end of the half yesterday, Tennessee lost its quarterback, lost a game and lost face as a coaching staff.

Notre Dame beat UT 17-13, less because of the luck of the Irish and more because of the stupidity of the Vols.

This one will leave a mark. Not only is Ainge out indefinitely, but UT's offensive braintrust clearly has sprung a leak.

After talking to the head coach, the offensive coordinator and a handful of players, the only thing certain is that nobody really knew what the heck the Vols were doing. There were major disconnects every step of the way.

And now there is some disconnected tissue in Ainge's right shoulder to match.

The whole sordid sequence began after Notre Dame punted to the UT 30 with 42 seconds remaining in a 10-7 game. The Vols had just one timeout remaining.

Those who have watched the Vols for the last few years know that UT usually runs something fairly safe —a draw play, maybe a screen pass — on first down in such situations.

If the play pops for a decent gain, the Vols then switch into hurry-up mode.

If not, they count down the clock.

Since Cedric Houston managed a paltry 2 yards on the draw play, nudging the ball to the UT 32, conventional wisdom held that the Vols would play it safe. Indeed, referee Jim Lapetina did not mark the ball for play until just 23 seconds showed on the clock, meaning the 25-second play clock was null and void.

UT did not have to snap the ball again. The Vols could head to the locker room with a 10-7 lead.

As Fulmer said later: ''You don't have to do anything.''

But somebody had the bright idea of putting Ainge in the shotgun, snapping the ball to him with about nine seconds remaining and letting him air it out far, far downfield as time expired.

Offensive coordinator Randy Sanders said it was intended to be a Hail Mary heave that carried no real risk.

''We throw it deep,'' Sanders said. ''If it works, we score. If not, it's incomplete and that's the worst thing that happens.''

Wrong.

The worst thing that can happen is that the shotgun snap hits Ainge on the shin, he struggles to pick up the ball and then gets waylaid by Notre Dame linebacker Brandon Hoyte, who slams Ainge's right shoulder into the turf and sends him to the training room.

This is bad football even if you don't get your quarterback hurt. Really, now, unless Stanford's band marches onto the field, how many great things are going to happen when you snap it on your own 32 with the clock running out?

Later, Fulmer took responsibility — sort of.

''Actually, I told Randy to run the draw and run the clock out,'' he said.

But there's more. He added that if the Vols got an ''OK play on first down'' they would ''probably take a shot'' downfield.

Whether a 2-yard gain on first down qualifies as an ''OK play'' is debatable. And thinking the Vols could uncork a 68-yard touchdown heave against a strong Notre Dame pass rush and a retreating Fighting Irish secondary was delusional.

''In the end it's my responsibility,'' Fulmer said.

Gee, you'd hope that a guy making $1.8 million a year could afford a book on time management.

The confounding thing about this strategy is that the Vols apparently haven't really practiced it. There was no real sense of urgency on the field and there was considerable confusion on the sideline.

''They said on the sideline if we gain some good yardage on the draw play, we'll get back on the ball,'' center Chuck Prugh said. ''If it's not as successful, we'll huddle up.

''I think there was some confusion. We looked over and didn't know what was going on.''

But Sanders is nothing if not confident about his play selection. He shrugged off the breakdown this way:

''We were trying to get a play in there right before the half. Hindsight is 20/20.''

No, hindsight is 17-13, Notre Dame.

Not to mention an X-ray that shows a separated shoulder and a coaching staff that is showing some cracks of its own.